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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27086797">Sleeping Sun</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoeverdares/pseuds/whoeverdares'>whoeverdares</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, General Danvers Week, Krypton, but not really Krypton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 02:41:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27086797</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoeverdares/pseuds/whoeverdares</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Astra wakes up in a place full of memories, she discovers that some of them are easier to keep than others</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Astra/Alex Danvers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>General Danvers &amp; Supercat Week 5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sleeping Sun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this for Day 8 (Creator's Choice) since I think it would fit some of the other prompts too. It's been a while and I am a bit rusty so, sorry in advance for the mistakes. Enjoy :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Day One, Astra woke up to the view of a world full of life, intact, unspoiled. It wasn’t Earth and it definitely wasn’t Fort Rozz. It had to be Krypton, of course, of all the places she had the chance to inhabit. Where else would Astra prefer to spend eternity once her fight was finally over?</p>
<p>Blessed by Rao’s light and kissed by its warmth, Astra smiled and flew her hand up to cover her eyes as she squinted into the red sun upon her. Its flames were brighter and more detailed than the view she could ever have from the surface of Krypton but that wasn’t the only thing that felt out of place. Has it always been so red, or was her memory failing?</p>
<p>The beautiful brightness dyed the Red Ocean’s waters and disappeared on the sand and the little crabs that the tide washed upon the shore. <em>Rao, it’s been so long</em>, Astra thought, getting to her bare feet.</p>
<p>Walking down the hill, wishing to feel the hot sands on her soles, she crossed through the high pastures and the shorter grass on her way. If Astra could see in retrospective, the soil had felt fresher and more wet than usual. Fertile in comparison with the last time she was on Krypton, but she accepted her fate anyway. Who was she to criticize whoever it was that designed this almost perfect scenario after all?</p>
<p>She really should have realized earlier, but it wasn’t until Day Two, with the visit of someone that didn’t belong to that perfect heaven, that she finally understood that death had eluded her once again. Enfolded in Kara’s embrace, Astra confirmed that her fight wasn’t over yet.</p>
<p>Having Kara explaining the details of this unconventional treatment wasn’t exactly the most difficult to believe, if she took into account that she was alive on Krypton, although not really on Krypton. “The treatment is rather experimental,” her niece explained. “It will preserve your mind and cognitive functions until your body is able to fully recover from the damage it suffered.” And of course, Astra remembered exactly what Kara meant when she asked if she had any recollection of her last fight. Astra moved a hand to her chest, just over her heart and its solid beat, the ghost of a feeling spread out and faded in an excruciatingly slow way. A pinch remained there but she asked Kara to continue anyway.</p>
<p>The device Kara described was just as small as a peanut and it was placed on Astra’s right temple. When synced with Astra’s memories and the tactile sensations stored in her brain, it would create this world of fantasy for her to live in, allowing her to recover her functioning sooner and to go through the treatment with the capacity to communicate with the outside world freely. That was the motivation to put her through all this and the main reason Kara was there after all: first, to assess the damage on Astra’s mind, and second, to know how was it possible, after Kara sent her aunt’s coffin to wander through space forever, for it to return to Earth again with a very alive but also a very comatose Astra.</p>
<p>The mystery about Astra’s mind status was something to solve along the treatment. About the other little big detail, Astra didn’t have an answer really. How much time has it passed between the two events anyway?</p>
<p>She didn’t have an answer but she had hope. An afterlife on Krypton sounded appealing but returning to Kara meant a return to her family and her one true home. Astra only had to wait now, with the promise of her niece’s frequent visits, until her body was in shape to wake up again.</p>
<p>It was an easy thing to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By Day Three, Agent Danvers appeared on Astra’s way to the river esplanade.</p>
<p>Such a sudden apparition was worthy of a double take, and indeed, Astra had to look twice to believe her eyes. Seeing the one who defeated her in combat, standing and breathing in this alien context was... interesting, to say the least.</p>
<p>Far from her initial position as an opponent, Alex was now the one leading the medical team working on healing Astra’s wounds and checking her general status, as she introduced herself. It was expected she would show up more frequently than not, so there she was, determined, confident, brave.</p>
<p>Astra approached the Agent while she proceeded to explain very briefly what her health situation was. The technicality of the words she used found Astra’s experienced ears although the General’s attention was entirely fixed on the way Alex looked like. She walked around the Agent’s figure and observed her from head to toe even if it earned her a very confused look from the other woman. If this representation was based on Astra’s memories, like basically everything else in this reality, then the detail level was impressive. Too much for someone she didn’t know had left such an imprint within the confines of her mind.</p>
<p>When Alex finished the medical report, Astra spoke all of the sudden. “Why are you trying to help me?” she asked.</p>
<p>“I committed a mistake. I want to fix this,” was the measured response.</p>
<p>As much as it seemed utterly unspecific, the answer felt genuine; there was something in Alex’s eyes that could never be rehearsed or invented. Behind her façade of an efficient soldier, Alex was being honest and Astra knew it.</p>
<p>Honest or not, Astra’s mouth flooded with replies for the Agent, some of them not so kind or polite at all, but she chose silence nonetheless. A very uncomfortable silence, offered to someone that was showing sympathy and admitting their wrongs and either way wouldn’t have forgiveness anytime soon.</p>
<p>“Look, I’m not here to annoy you,” Alex continued after Astra’s silence, not moving a single inch from the place she appeared in and never abandoning Astra’s condemning eyes. “I just wanted to let you know about the progress of the treatment. Your body is not healing quickly, this might take some time.”</p>
<p>“I will wait. I really do not have another choice, don’t I?”</p>
<p>Alex sighed and nodded. “We’re gonna help you. I can guarantee that.” And just as quickly as she appeared, Alex Danvers disappeared in a fading blur.</p>
<p>What kind of an exit was that? Astra grumbled at the audacity and ruminated about the short conversation until she forgot why she was heading to the river esplanade at all. She found herself standing at the other side of the city, cranky and with nothing to do with her time now. Nothing else to do but waiting, like she had said just moments before.</p>
<p>Waiting, waiting.</p>
<p>Of course, Astra could wait. But she could do something productive with her time too.</p>
<p>The days on Earth weren’t very different in length than days on the real Krypton. It wasn’t difficult for Astra to adapt to the day/night cycles when she first landed as a Fort Rozz escapee. Here, however, time felt tedious, it passed in a very lethargic way. The Krypton on her mind was transiting its own version of the midnight sun, when Rao wouldn’t disappear from the sky, not even during the night hours, which meant days and nights melted together and were no longer a reference of time at all. It took Astra a few days to get used to these periods of rotations she hadn’t experienced in more than 35 years.</p>
<p>Once she finally settled in and time was starting to feel a bit more coherent again, her exploratory cravings reawakened. What began like walking herself out of her bad mood after a certain someone’s annoying visit, quickly evolved into her preferred way to spend the day. She was on Krypton after all, and she had all the time in the world to wander these lands, to visit the places she already knew and to rediscover others that were left forgotten in some corner of her memory. Argo City looked silent and tranquil, too big and intimidating for a solitary expedition and yet Astra walked every street and every alley, every historical building and every modern wonder.</p>
<p>She felt like a tourist in this lonely city, a tourist in her own land.</p>
<p>Of all her favorite places, the Ailanthus Gardens around the Military Council would always evoke thoughts of belonging, home, and abundance. Those trees welcomed her one more time, like in the old days, with the sound of its waving flowers and their sweet perfume. It didn’t matter if they looked slightly bigger and more colorful than usual... wishful thinking must have found its way into this memory, Astra reasoned to justify the inaccuracy. She pretended not to see it and proceeded to enjoy the view, the scent, and the memories that came with them. It was better than just waiting.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until something similar occurred on the shores of red sands that she started to analyze the inaccuracies a bit more. Bokos Islands weren’t too far but she never got to see the contours so clearly like that day. Much more clearly than she ever remembered seeing them from the distance of Argo’s shore. It wasn’t strange at the moment, and it would have been imperceptible in any other situation, but Astra’s trained eye registered these details anyway.</p>
<p>After all, they would be the first but not the last.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kara appeared every other day like they had arranged on her first visit. A shadow, a blur, and after that her niece’s biggest smile and the warmth of her embrace comforted Astra’s heart and soul. They wandered for hours through the countryside, sometimes to the South, sometimes to the East, but every time looking back on Kara’s childhood anecdotes and enjoying the sporadic apparition of Kryptonian fauna and the beauties of the native forest. Strangely, everything Astra fought for and wished for Kara to see was there, in front of their eyes. Unblemished and untouched by careless hands.</p>
<p>Time passed lightly during those long walks. They didn’t only chit-chat about the most common and unimportant of things, no, there was always space for Kara to share the incompatibilities of her everyday life as a reporter <em>and </em>a superhero, something Astra would never understand but she listened anyway. She would listen for all the time she wasn’t there for her niece.</p>
<p>Deep in her heart, Astra had missed Kara so much that she was grateful for this interlude in life for it would give them some time to rebuild their bond. That was something Astra wished for with all her soul. Not only because of what happened with Myriad, but also for what happened after Myriad, and what that incident had meant for Kara and her found family on Earth.</p>
<p>Astra’s heart broke a little more every time she thought about it.</p>
<p>The way they left things at the moment of Astra’s death was far from perfect. It was a sad story, actually. The promise of a new beginning cut short by a mistake, and not exactly Agent Danvers’ mistake. It was her own fault, Astra thought, for not backing off when she had the chance, for not finding another way and not listening—</p>
<p>“Aunt Astra? Are you okay?” Kara asked and brought Astra back from her self-condemning thoughts. “You seem distracted, I think I’m boring you,” she added with a shy smile.</p>
<p>“Never. You could never bore me, little one. I was just thinking.”</p>
<p>“Do you want to talk about it?”</p>
<p>Astra sighed and dismissed the offer by shaking her head. “It is nothing important. I promise.”</p>
<p>She allowed herself that little white lie. As much as they had talked about Myriad already and Kara had made it clear that there was no need to apologize for what Non had done with it, for all the damage he caused, Astra kept feeling she could have done things differently, and she would, if she had the opportunity. Kara would never blame her; her heart was noble and kind and forgiving. She wouldn’t bring legal issues into their conversations but Astra knew she deserved to be held accountable for her actions once this was all over.</p>
<p>Maybe, in a way, that was the opportunity she wanted so bad. A second chance to make things right for Kara and for herself. And for a world that wasn’t hers but also deserved a serious discussion about its survival, just like Krypton did.</p>
<p>Whatever it was that came next, Astra would accept it. For now, all she had was this moment with her niece, the beautiful landscape around them, and the need to make new, happier memories.</p>
<p>“Would you come with me to the old strangled tree?”</p>
<p>The brightness of Kara’s smile spread all over her face as she answered. “You know I would never say no to that.”</p>
<p>And so, they marched, without further ado.</p>
<p>They walked for a mile into the woods, chatting and recalling all the times they traveled that same path with Alura, just the three of them, when Astra was back home from her military tours twice a year. The small spaces between the trees allowed the sunlight to pass through the holes of the forest canopy, projecting little stars all over Astra’s black suit and Kara’s blue tunic. The magic of those small-scaled constellations walked with them like in those old days. It followed the path with them and showed them the way to another of Astra’s favorite places.</p>
<p>After another quarter of a mile, where the Royal Trail departed to the left, they found the big tree covered by the strangler vine, and under its shadow, their usual sitting spot.</p>
<p>If it was a hallucination, or a glitch in Astra’s personal Matrix, she faked the surprise very well. She was sure Kara couldn’t see it but the vestiges of a figure dressed with a blue tunic faded away as they approached the wooden bench. Against Astra’s will, the looming presence of her past mistakes fell over her one more time. Her sister’s name came to her mind. Alura, a sad story, misunderstandings on both sides of their sisterly bond, a wish to come back in time. And of course, impossibility, since time never forgives and, like Astra was starting to learn, memories neither.</p>
<p>She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked away, to the other side of the woods, until the tears in her eyes dried up. She took a deep breath and focused her mind, <em>here and now, here and now</em>, and it was the best she could do. Here and now meant that her family wasn’t completely disintegrated along with the ashes of a dying world. Here and now meant seeing Kara sitting by her side, just in time to witness Rao reaching its lowest point on the horizon, the two of them together.</p>
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